In their marketing Kia Australia promises that all versions of the Kia EV9 electric car are capable of Three Phase 10.5kW maximum AC charging rate.
At home using a three phase 11kW charger the promised charging time from 10% to 100% is 7 hours for the RWD Air Single Motor version and 9 hours 5 minutes for the Earth and GT-Line AWD Dual Motor versions.
The reason why it takes so long is because the Kia EV9 is a big car and has a huge battery capacity, 76.1kWh for RWD Air Single Motor and 99.8kWh for the Earth and GT-Line AWD Dual Motor versions.
I tested the charging rate at my local shopping centre Ocular AC charging station, using my 7m Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable (22kW, 32 amp) cable and a Australian Kia EV9 GT-Line 2024 (which I had on loan for a week to review).
I plugged one end of the cable into the car charger port.
I plugged the other end of the cable into the Ocular brand AC charging station.
After a few seconds charging started and I saw that the Kia EV9 EV 2024 was charging.
You can tell the Kia EV9 2024 has an onboard Three Phase AC charger because the Ocular display shown above has all 3 phases with roughly 240V and about 16 amps.
The driver information cluster screen displays key information about AC charging rate, current battery level and how long it will take to reach 100%.
By the time I returned from a quick shopping trip the total amount sent to the battery was 8.05kWh in 47min 37 seconds, which is roughly 10.3kW rate.
An EV only capable of 6.6kW or 7kW AC single phase charging would have taken about 73 minutes to receive the same amount of kWh from the same AC charging unit.
The charge rate displayed on the Kia EV9 2024 in car display was 10.2-10.3kW.
However Car Scanner Pro and my ODB reader revealed that the actual rate which the Kia EV9 2024 received after heat and cable losses was between 9.65-9.85kW/hr (on average 9.75kW rate).
The Kia EV9 2024 allows you to choose the maximum percentage AC and DC charge limits separately in the car settings.
As a side note one common question about the Australian Kia EV9 2024 is can you can set the maximum charge percentage level using an app?
Yes you can set the maximum battery level for the Kia EV9 2024 in the Kia Connect mobile app as well as viewing the current battery percentage level and estimated range. Watch this video to see how.
The Kia Connect app also lets you start/stop charging remotely, schedule charging, schedule climate control and a lot more.
PS I tested the Kia EV9 on another day as well at a different 3 phase AC 11kW charger and got the same charging rate result as the first time.
Type 2 to Type 2 Cable Buying Tips
I recommend buying your Type 2 to Type 2 cable from an Australian retailer like EVSE or Jetcharge so you have a good warranty and are supporting the local EV accessory industry.
You could get a shorter, cheaper 5m cable but I find the 7m length is handy as you never know how far the charging station will be from your car charging port.
Some electric vehicle (EV) owners buy a Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable (7kW, 32amp) to save a little bit of money.
This is a slower slightly cheaper cable available for purchase for cars like the BYD Atto 3, MG ZS EV 2021, MG4 Excite 2023 and Hyundai Kona EV 2021 that don’t support 11kW AC charging.
However if you later buy a newer electric car that is capable of 11kW AC charge rate or rent an EV capable of 11kW AC charge rate (eg common rental models Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 2) then this wastes an opportunity to charge that EV much faster at an AC charging station.
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